This Story is NOT about Space Wizards in the Past Future

No, wait......it is...

Our Heroes, after relaxing for a bit on the Nebulon-B Frigate Resurgence, receive a summons to the briefing room from Captain Verana. Once arrived, Former Imperial Admiral Gilder Varth, now wearing the uniform of an Alderaanian Officer, briefed the party on the latest news since Varth’s debriefing:

The briefing room aboard the Resurgence is clean and white, with
several benches wrapping smoothly around a holographic projector
seated on a raised dais in the center of the room. The projector
springs to life, and the blue-tinted hologram of a Hutt appears to
hover a few inches away from the projector’s three curved prongs.
With a brusque clearing of his throat, former Imperial officer Gilder
Varth begins to speak, wasting little time on pleasantries.
“Before the Empire decided my conscience was a liability,” he
says, “I was involved peripherally in a top-secret plan known as the
Sarlacc Project. While the details of the project are unknown to me,
I was involved in the transfer of large sums of credits and resources
to the project. Whatever the project entails, it is taking up a lot of
the Empire’s time and effort. Moreover, I believe that this Sarlacc
Project is destroying the lives of thousands of sentient beings;
casualty reports crossed my desk on a regular basis.
“Unfortunately, I don’t know much more than that. However,
during my brief brushes with the project, I discovered that the
Imperial Navy was hiding the program’s existence from the Senate
by transferring resources through secondary sources. Resources were
routed through the Corporate Sector, through fake contractors, and
through the criminal underworld to keep a trail from leading back to
the project.
“One such secondary source was a Hutt crime lord named
Darga. Like all Hutts, Darga is a slimy gangster whose love of credits
is exceeded only by his love of power. Part of my job involved
transferring resources to Darga, and in turn arranging for Imperial
agents to take control of other resources from the Hutt’s
organization. These were not simply transfers of credits. The items
being traded were not specified, but physical resources were
definitely being exchanged. Though it’s not much, this is the only
lead we have.
“Captain Verana has charged me with helping to uncover more
about the Sarlacc Project, and he has authorized me to use you as
my agents. We need you to travel to the planet of Cato Neimoidia
and find Darga the Hutt. See if you can learn what he is trading in
and how it relates to the Sarlacc Project.”

Ayna Hassat, Cesc and their handy Mr. Potato Head Probe Droid, R1-C0 aka “Rico”, accepted the mission with barely a question. Instead of bothering themselves with details about the mission, they turned their immediate focus on more important matters at hand: Gambling and recovering their ordered items from Alderaan. Luckily, Ensign Ricky approached the team after the briefing and informs them that they’ve received a very important package forwarded from Alderaan.

Went around “town” scouting out the area, generally gathering knowledge about any Hutt activity.

Met a wily, homeless Neimoidian who claimed he was the Viceroy of the Trade Federation. The party first refused to give the beggar any money, but once he started leaving, Cesc sent his droid after him to hand him 20 credits.

The party refocused their efforts on finding a local gambling circle of some sort. They succeeded in finding a Womp Rat Fighting League.

They met Borlo, the Neimoidian running the books for the fights. He first refused the party any dealings until the Droids were put outside and couldn’t be swayed in his stance until Anya used force persuade.

After a couple rounds of winnings (equating to about 4-5 hours of character time), an Imperial Troop Transport crashed the party and scattered the gambling ring. The party escaped up a pile of rubble and to the second floor of an adjacent building.

Once they were a safe distance away, they spied on the happenings below, discovering that Borlo fed the Imperial Officer general information about the party and the nights happenings, and was then secretively handed a Credit chip, ending the exchange.

R1-C0, Ayna and Cesc left the Felucian Village with a native scout to guide them towards their main objective: the Imperial Prison Facility known as the “Vanishing Place” to extract a defecting Imperial Admiral by the name of Gilder Varth.

The party first stopped by the Communications Outpost they cleared out a day ago to reroute the natural radio interference the plant wildlife is emitting into the same channels the Imperials are using in this sector. Once complete, they continued to the Prison Facility without incident.

Once arrived, the front of the facility looked pretty well guarded by squads of stormtroopers and an E-Web Blaster built into an extension of the facility. Luckily, the scout that was with them knew about an alternate route inside: a loosely fitted grate on a ventilation pipe that led straight in. Cesc and Rico decided to check out the vent while Ayna decided to try his hand at wreaking havoc with the front of the facility. While sneaking up to the side wall nearest the e-web blaster, a stormtrooper on patrol nearby saw the Jedi and landed a blaster bolt right into Ayna’s backside. Lucky for him Ezrael was nearby the stormtrooper, and using his lightsaber made quick work of the stormtrooper (Ezrael was here for only a part of the session before leaving, so any in game explanations to a sudden appearance and disappearance is hard to come by). Ayna continued to the wall and snuck around the front to try and chop the barrel off the e-web blaster. Unfortunately for him, he could only get on swing on it before the troops on the inside tossed a frag grenade out the firing slot and right into his lap. This, coupled with the arrival of more troops on the outside finally dissuaded Ayna into joining his friends inside.

Meanwhile, Cesc and Rico managed to remove the loose grate and disable the spinning blades of the fan without trouble and continued into the inside of the facility. After a quick jaunt down a short hallway, they found themselves in the main room of the facility and at the front door of a medical bay. Rico walked in first and after the medical assistant took notice, were confronted quickly by a couple of Felucian Abominations that were on some operating tables. Rico and Cesc were able to make quick work of the Felucians and quickly cornered the Assistant, demanding information from him. Once they saw he wasn’t going to give them any, they strapped him down to the table and shut down the 21-b medical droid that was also in the room, lest he make some sort of alarm.

Ayna caught up to the other two at this point and headed towards the prison proper when they were noticed by a couple stormtroopers and engaged in the main room. The heroes killed two quickly and Ayna took a hit square on by a blaster cannon, but the remaining troopers fell back into the turret area and dug in. After Rico floated up and noticed a trap that was set, the party decided to leave the troops to their defenses and continue on. Ayna used his lightsaber to spot weld the main door shut, to prevent them from having any unwanted visitors to the prison.

They then entered the holding area to be greeted by a couple of guard droids who quickly attacked them and a pair of guards up on an elevated area, firing down on them. The party neutralized the droids and subdued the guards and found their main objective, Admiral Varth. They quickly tried giving Varth a blaster and some armor to protect him, but Varth refused every offer they made, but finally caved in on the blaster and just pocketed it to appease his rescuers. He was confused at first about why freelancers were sent to pick him up instead of the rebels he was trying to join and help, but he quickly accepted their help and just wanted to get out of the facility. There were 3 other prisoners that the party took along with them to free as well.

The party then rounded around to the communications facility, quickly subdued the operators and planted the explosives that Vazus Mandrake had given them back at the Felucian Village to destroy the facility. One of the operators that was disarmed just before the fight quickly surrendered and helped the party out with some information about how to get out. Also the party noticed on the screen an important message just sent from a Victory Class Star Destroyer that sat in Felucia’s orbit:

//ROUTED . . . SECURITYENCRYPTIONCONFIRMED
//FROMPRAKITHCITADELCOMMCENTERVIAHOLONETNODE
6673-ALPHA
//FROMNODE 6673-ALPHAVIASTARDESTROYERASSIDUOUS
Priority 1 Message Follows:
Prepare former Admiral Gilder Varth for transfer to the Citadel.
Inquisitor Draco will be arriving within a standard Felucian
day/night cycle to take custody of the prisoner. You are instructed
to have your medical technicians ensure that Varth is fully rested
and at his highest possible strength.
Interrogation chemicals should be administered to Varth upon
notification that the Inquisitor has arrived on Felucia. Varth will be
transferred by shuttle to the Assiduous before Inquisitor Draco takes
custody. Time from administration of interrogation chemicals to
transfer to the Inquisitor’s personal transport should fall within an
acceptable window of 27 to 54 minutes.
//ENDTRANSMISSION

Upon exiting, however, they were met by the remaining troopers that were hunkered down in the turret bay and a barrage of blaster fire from their e-web now placed in the main room. After focusing fire on the e-web operator and eliminating his minions, they healed up
and looked for a way out.

Noticing landing pad lights lining the roof from the outside earlier, and now armed with the knowledge that there were 4 AT-ST’s outside with a platoon of fresh troops wondering what’s going on with the prison facility, they decided to take the Turbolifts up to the 2nd floor, where they can try to find roof access and get picked up by the Banshee. They contacted Captain Okeefe to make sure the Banshee was ready and to get her underway to pick them up in time.

Cesc and Rico went up first, with Ayna staying behind briefly to make sure the prisoners were safe. When they reached the 2nd floor, they were greeted by 4 stormtroopers, Captain Vischera (the commander of the facility) and two rancor sized Felucian Abominations all waiting for the heroes. A fight quickly ensued and Ayna immediately came up to join the fight. The Abominations landed a couple of devastating hits on the heroes that quickly turned the fight into a nailbiter. Ayna and Rico focused on the Abominations while Cesc distracted the stormtroopers. Badly hurt, but victorious, the party exited onto the roof and were greeted by the Banshee, who lowered her loading ramp for the heroes and now freed prisoners to hop on board. Once on, the explosives were detonated and the entire facility erupted into a massive fireball.

Captain Okeefe shared with the party that Alderaan wasn’t their destination, but instead they were headed for a Nebulon-B Frigate named the Resurgence, where Admiral Varth will be debriefed and kept as a mobile safehouse. When they arrived, they were greeting by the ships captain, Captain Adrian Verana, who thanks the heroes on behalf of Senator Organa and informs them that once the Admiral was debriefed, they’d be contact for work, given their productivity thus far. They were given their award monies and offered rooms onboard the Resurgence. Captain Okeefe congratulated the party and also offered her services of transportation should they need it in the future.

A summary of events prior to creating this portal.

The Adventure begins on an uninteresting, small space platform (one of about a dozen) floating around the planet Brentaal. The players arrive each separately on Sel Zonn Station, as it’s named, each passing through and on their own travels and varied destinations.

On a fine afternoon the heroes each find themselves enjoying lunch and casually shopping in the stations central market when a woman wearing the greasy clothes of a mechanic stumbles in clearly injured. Two men that the players noticed earlier carrying poorly concealed Hold-Out Blasters started making their way through the crowd and towards the woman, who then turned and stumbled into Ezrael and Ayna begging for assistance. Before anyone could react, two Stormtroopers entered the Market and aimed their blasters at the woman, shouting for everyone to back away from her. Ayna immediately ignited his lightsaber to defend the woman but succeeded only in alerting everyone around them that there are fugitive Jedi on board the station. One of the informants immediately snapped a shot off at the Jedi, but hit the woman in the back instead, causing her to crumple to the ground in a lifeless heap. The Stormtroopers immediately called in for backup while the market immediately turned into a frenzy as civilians rushed to clear the area.

After seeing this great act of injustice, the rest of the heroes immediately join the fight to help the Jedi and the fallen woman. They quickly kill the informants while Ayna disarmed one of the Stormtroopers and Ezrael chopped the other one down. The disarmed Stormtrooper, dispite all odds and common sense, bullrushed Ayna and successfully tackled and pinned the Jedi. After a short wrestling match and a couple of whiffs by Ezrael, Ayna managed to convince the Stormtrooper (the Force is a wonderful thing sometimes) to leave the Market and return to his bunk at the barracks. Ezrael missed several more easy swings at the Stormtrooper as he ran out, immediately branding the Stormtrooper as the “One Who Got Away”.

After the skirmish, Cesc and Elisch teamed up to immediately help the fallen woman, whom was seconds away from death. After several medpacks and some amazing surgery, they managed to get the woman conscious and on her feet just as the reinforcements showed up. After defeating the small group and locking the doors to prevent the others from entering, the new group of fugitives escaped and were guided by the woman, who introduces herself as Maya, to her safe quarters.

Upon arriving, Maya quickly informs the party that they needed to get to deep storage bay V14, where a droid named Switch can provide them with the location of some very valuable cargo. According to Maya, Switch was responsible for receiving and storing this cargo, which was shipped all the way from the Deep Core. Maya was supposed to contact Switch, recover the cargo, and deliver it to Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan. She reveals that she is a member of Alderaanian Security and part of Organa’s personal security detail, and that she was waylaid by the Empire mere hours after arriving on the station. Apparently, the fact that she works for a vocal opponent of the Emperor has flagged her as a troublemaker, and the Empire wants her off the station one way or the other. If the party can get the cargo from Switch, Maya agreed to provide them with transport off the station and away from their new pursuers.

The party agrees to help her out upon hearing this information (and certainly motivated by the monetary reward afterward) and headed towards the deep storage bay while keeping a low profile so as not to draw any more attention.

The party found through general information gathering and some clever computer usage that a storage bay on the station hasn’t been used in quite some time, but many people on the station have heard of things going on in those parts of the station. They decide to take the direct route in and discover the entrance to Deep Storage Bay V14 guarded by a couple of Gamorreans. Deciding not to pick a fight with two massive guards in a cramped, hardly lit hallway, the Party engages them in chatter and with a little force persuasion let the party into the Storage Bay.

Upon entering, they find a dark Protocol Droid, who cheerfully and gracefully introduces himself as Switch, standing behind a large, very rare, finely crafted desk made out of Japor ivory wood and next to him, an R5 unit he introduces as R5-B8. Rico is immediately enamored by the beautiful desk.

They learn that Switch is an information broker and offers to release the precious cargo to the heroes for 1000 credits and also offers them a chance to make a little money by transporting some Corellian Ale for him to Alderaan. After some drawn out negotiations, the party learns that the cargo is being held in the Main Docking Bay on the Blue Deck.

The heroes discover Switch’s thugs hiding behind crates in the storage bay and quickly turn distrustful to the protocol droid. When things start to escalate between the two parties, loud squealing and blaster shots suddenly come from the entrance, where a Chevin gangster and his minions enter from. The Chevin yells at Switch for trying to hide his dealings with Otherworlders and declares he’s tired of not getting a cut. Before another word could be uttered, he opens fire on the room.

Although Switch’s minions show no aggression towards the heroes, they treat them as hostile and fight a two fronted battle between both Gangsters, quickly dispatching the minions with only some minor injuries. After seeing the fight turn quickly into a free-for-all bloodbath, Switch darts for the entrance for an escape, but is swiftly shot and cut down by Ezrael and Cesc. Once everyone was dispatched, the party quickly turns to looting the room and Rico tries to devise methods to extract the very heavy, but very beautiful desk. After inter-party bickering between Ayna Hassat and Rico over the desk and whether or not to take it, Ayna force pushes the desk into a large hole to end the debate. Rico decides to retaliate by throwing a blaster bolt through R5-B8, whom Ayna was hoping to keep.

Somehow, the party regroups after mourning their lost loot and continues on their quest to retrieve the cargo and get off Sel Zonn Station.

(I’ll fill in more details later, for now, here’s the remaining event bullet points that have happened thus far:)